[The keys to antibiotic therapy decision making in daily practice]

Current daily good antimicrobial practice is a key point for controlling the spread of bacterial antibiotic resistance. In addition one should give every patient an optimal therapy. A pragmatic classification of antibiotics would be useful if made according to diagnosis, mainly community-acquired infections, when known to benefit from antibiotic therapy, and according to responsible bacterial species. On the basis of these bacterial species and updated knowledge of antibacterial activity of current antibiotics, a selection of several antibiotic drugs can be made for prescribers, according to their known clinical efficacy and their limitations, if any, and according to well-established therapeutic guidelines. A simple armentarium can be proposed, with the most useful and well-adapted drugs for current clinical practice of infectious diseases.